Having tested the limits of its power to marginalise Muslims, the government is slowly moving to everyone else

The cost for the Muslim community of constantly trying to placate people’s anger and fear by justifying itself is increasingly apparent. It is rare, especially for Victorian Muslims, to turn their back on a meeting with government. This is a sign not of anger, but of a community that has no hope in the political system.

But the fight here is no longer one about or for Muslims. In allowing our politicians free rein to do as they will with Muslims – criminalise, surveil and pathologise them – those strategies are now available for use not just against minorities, but as the encryption laws attest, all of us.